More than 50 people gather at the Hall of Justice to attend to hearing on the Plaza de Panama plan for Balboa Park.

Following a 2 1/2 hour hearing Friday, Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor promised a final ruling within a few days on the proposed $45 million redo of the center of Balboa Park.

Taylor had earlier issued a tentative ruling that would effectively kill the proposal to build a bypass bridge off the Cabrillo Bridge as a way to clear cars and parking from the Plaza de Panama in front of the San Diego Museum of Art and the Plaza de California in front of the San Diego Museum of Man.

The judge did not indicate if he might change his mind. He pressed City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and the Plaza de Panama committee attorney on the project’s compliance with the city’s historic site preservation ordinance.

On the other hand, Taylor told the Save Our Heritage Organisation, which sued the city and the committee, that if he rules in SOHO's favor, the project is dead and any hope for a new compromise is just that.

"A hope is not a plan," Taylor said.

Bruce Coons, executive director of the Save Our Heritage Organisation, which successfully sued the sued the city over the Plaza de Panama plan.— Howard Lipin

Bruce Coons, executive director of the Save Our Heritage Organisation, which successfully sued the sued the city over the Plaza de Panama plan.
— Howard Lipin

SOHO had warned that the "Centennial Bridge" bypass would harm the historic character of the west entrance to the park. Many alternatives that are less expensive are available to achieve most of the committee's aims, SOHO argued, and it offered alternate solutions that it said have less impact.

Goldsmith's office said in its brief that the city considered continued parking and traffic use in the plazas is not "reasonable beneficial use" but the judge disagreed in the tentative ruling. The reasonable use standard is set forth in the city ordinance that SOHO cites in its lawsuit as being violated by the city.

If the judge upholds his ruling, the city and the committee, established by Qualcomm cofounder Irwin Jacobs, can either appeal or concede defeat. Jacobs had promised that his committee would raise about $30 million for implementation with the remaining $15 million coming from a city-issued revenue bond, funded from the new garage parking charges. Jacobs has personally covered the $8 million spent on the plan to date, a spokesman said.

The judge said in his tentative ruling that he considered the Jacobs plan's benefits "far outweigh the negatives." He also said it would be a "sad day for San Diego" if the promised donations cannot be replaced by others for any alternate plan.

"SOHO's opposition to the project seems short-sighted, as the project appears to offer many net benefits in terms of restoration of historic resources," Taylor said in his ruling.

But he said city has to "be held to its own law" when treating historic sites and cannot "pretend away the very words of the Municipal Code."

Scott Williams, attorney for the Jacobs committee, argued that the judge should find the present parking and traffic use of the center of the park "unreasonable" even if it is beneficial to motorists.

Susan Brandt-Hawley, SOHO's attorney, said the primary goal is to rid the Plaza de Panama of cars and that many alternatives exist to achieve that goal without having to build the bypass. But she conceded that it is not within SOHO's finances to underwrite a different approach.